international exchange and understanding VS the (perceived) western cultural superiority complex

okay, i know i’m asking for trouble by making such a post, but urgh. what happened yesterday got me so riled up. suffice to say that it really bothers me how some foreigners view Japan from their western-centric eyes, make judgements with the unspoken but implicit, underlying opinion that what goes on in this country is so “OMG this is insane, what kind of place is this??”

a disclaimer before i proceed further: i’m going to be using words like “Asian” and “Western” very freely, so anyone who’s going to take issue with that and call it a reductive dichotomy might want to stop right now and browse somewhere else.

*   *   *

i think i occupy an interesting position on JET, being a born and bred Asian in the midst of a whole bunch of people from predominantly ‘white’ ‘western’ societies, all of us being lumped together as “foreigners” in a country which, in many ways, can be said to be on the extreme end of things ranging from (cultural) conservatism to other kinds of crazy stuff.

many people in my social circle don’t seem to realise that the social-cultural norms that they’re used to don't apply to many other countries besides japan – so many things seem to flabbergast them, even though the same things that go on in Japan are shared in many other countries in the region to varying extents.

i find it interesting that i’d never been more aware of my Asian identity than when i came on JET. and that my culture shock – in some ways i’m still adapting - came from the other ALTs and not from Japan at all. so often when i’m listening to conversations where people are discussing something they find odd, i’m thinking, ‘well, that’s because of this and that, and besides it’s not that strange cos in some way it’s echoed back home too’.

because of my background, i find it a lot easier to understand where certain aspects of japanese culture and behaviour come from. i might not agree with some of them, but i believe i understand somewhat the underlying mentality behind them, and because of that, find it easier to accept that behaviour.

unfortunately, for many people i know, their life in japan is spent looking from the outside, seeing the facts of the situation (ie This is what goes on in Japan) but not the reasons behind them. they get into debates, discussing and judging, sometimes trying to make sense of it from their western viewpoints but not quite succeeding because they dont have the cultural background for support.

and i (naturally) get defensive – oftentimes it’s some form of japan-bashing or putting down, and i get upset because 1) i do like japan and sometimes i just think they just have to change their mentality on things and they wouldnt be so unhappy being here, and 2) i can’t help but feel they’re criticising my cultural background too, when judgement and comments are passed on things in japan that singaporeans/chinese share to a certain extent.

so i voice my dissonant view, and woah. i get told that i’m defensive – and damn right i am for the reasons above. also, try being the only westerner surrounded by asians commenting and passing judgement on aspects of some other country whose general practices you share to an extent, and let’s see whether you get defensive or not.

i also get told in the same breath that their views are equally valid, that the outsider’s view from another cultural perspective can often be illuminating on a place, and that my views are equally coloured by my cultural upbringing too.

who’s being the defensive one here? i put forth an alternative view and immediately steps are taken in attempt to squash it and reassert their opinion.

the conversation i had yesterday brought to mind what i’d read in this book on the JET Programme by David McConnell. this programme is aimed at increasing international understanding, among others, but i’m really not sure how successful it is in this respect, considering how most discussions on culture occur among westerners*; at least from my experience, there arent that many japanese people with the english skills necessary to discuss culture (and even if they do, i can’t really imagine getting into a debate with my JTEs on this topic; our relationship isn’t quite there yet) and there’re hardly any english-speaking born and bred asians around to share their cultural viewpoints. not to mention the reluctance and resistance to opposing views on culture!

Said one of the Japanese interviewed in the book:

“In many of their criticisms, ALTs are implicitly demanding that the Japanese reconstitute themselves and their society in ways more compatible with Western norms and expectations.”

and

“JET participants need to take seriously the task of learning Japanese culture and language and integrating themselves into social routines. Too often they simply criticize Japan rather than admit that they must accept some of the consequences of the Japanese model of social relations.”

Another JET himself expressed:

“Is kokuisaika (internationalisation) not a two-way street? I sometimes wonder if all JET participants are as internationalized as they pretend to be. Most of us feel internationalized because we are Anglophones, presently living outside our home country dealing with people who lack fluency in English and have limited experience in overseas travelling. We see the Japanese as the object of our presence in their own country.. however, how many of us can look at ourselves and sincerely assert that we are as internationalized as we want the Japanese to be?”

Oh, i couldnt agree with them more.

I’ve heard complaints about Japanese prejudice against white foreigners, and you know, sometimes i don’t blame the Japanese - not when you have foreigners who come here and sometimes talk bad about japanese people or laugh at their stupidity for not understanding english behind their backs in a clearly audible voice. not when there’s sometimes the expectation that people here should know english when they themselves dont make much effort or attempt to learn japanese. not when you have foreigners who jump over ticket gates and feel proud about it. not when a bunch of foreigners come onto a quiet train, chattering among themselves at a volume that echoes throughout the entire train carriage, yet get angry when someone tells them to lower their voices because they feel they have the right to do whatever they want. not when foreigners have house parties fitting 30 people into a small apartment and get pissed off when the security guard breaks up the party at 11pm**. and definitely not when foreigners go around the streets making a ruckus for the heck of it just because they can.

i just hope most of the other JETs around, as well as future JET applicants, are open to understanding and accepting what goes on in this country. i’m probably sounding hypocritical saying this***, but let’s all try to be as open-minded as possible and attempt to feel the soul of this country we’re in.

 

*: many of these often end in something like “Man, i think that they just need to/they should (insert Western practice or attitude)”.

**: i mentioned this to a friend, and apparently her landlord in Edinburgh would certainly not appreciate a house party in their building. Also, whoever said that 12 midnight is the magic number for things to end? Where i come from it’s very much 11pm.

***: i suppose i am guilty of being close-minded to the western-centric views on japan. and i admit i have nothing to say in my defence, except that i dislike what i perceive to be an underlying western superiority complex behind many of their comments. plus i dont think the western viewpoint on anything needs defending anyway, since it’s everywhere in entertainment and political and economic systems; it’s firmly rooted in our current world and you cant escape from it. the east knows a lot more about the west than the other way round.

JET postings

i’ve heard that postings have been decided and perhaps confirmed?

i wonder who is coming to replace those of us in Osaka who’re leaving.. among us, there’s 1 irish, 2 english, 2 south african, 1 australian, 1 jamaican, 4 american and of course me the singaporean, so it’ll be nice if we’ll get some people from these countries to replace us. i really like the good mix of nationalities that we have, cos you get to learn so much more; it’s a generalisation, but i’ve also realised that i get along with some better than others.

if you’re reading this and have gotten posted to Osaka-shi, do please drop me a line! i’d be really excited to find out who’s coming.

 

PS: Osaka-fu apparently isn’t hiring any new JETs to replace those who’re leaving, which is surprising. i wonder how many are heading back to their home countries this year. all of us in the city who’re leaving are getting replaced, although it’s because there’s only a measly 23 of us.

JET interview – evaluation guidelines

I recently read a book on the early years of the JET programme which the Brit had lent me - “Importing Diversity: Inside Japan’s JET Programme” by David L. McConnell.

The book is rather interesting as it focuses on the programme as it was before, and highlighted a few issues that i will blog about soon.

I found this information most useful for potential JETs i think. In 1992, the author was privy to the interview process, and revealed that interviewers were given an evaluation form (and score sheet) with several key aspects for interviewers to consider.

According to him, “To be considered for recommendation, applicants must meet certain basic conditions. They must be outgoing, well-mannered and have a sunny disposition.”

While this information is rather dated, it might serve as a useful point of reference for JET-hopefuls when preparing for the interview, in order to present the right image or highlight certain strengths that they might have:

“Personality: consider flexibility, strength of personality, ability to adapt to foreign cultures, etc.

Ability: consider self-expression, creativity, general knowledge.

Motivation: consider desire to participate in JET programme, sense of purpose; interest in Japan

English ability: clear pronunciation, proper word use, etc

Japanese ability: Applicants for the CIR position must have a functional ability in Japanese, an ability not only to speak and understand well but ideally to read and write as well. For ALTs, evaluate conversation and reading ability.

Overall impression: Please recommend those applicants who seem sociable, stable and can adjust well to new situations.”

The untold story

It’s a really slow day in school today, so I thought I’d put my time to better use by writing this up. Like I mentioned earlier here*, I don’t find my job that great at all. It’s nothing to do with the schools I’m in – the teachers are fantastic and the students I have are in general pretty cool. The main problem with my situation is that i don’t get much (any?) fulfilment from my job.

For starters, I don’t feel like I’m gaining much through my work. the tasks I do are simple – I basically just do what my JTE tells me to. My role is very much that of an assistant indeed. Some JETs plan lessons, draw up activities and essentially come up with the English language programme at their schools, but not in my case. My teachers will come to me with a lesson already planned – and they’re always pretty well drawn up lessons – so all I have to do is whatever’s already laid out in the plan.

And what’s in the lesson plan isn’t much either. It usually doesn’t go beyond me explaining things in simple English – which the JTE then will translate – or the JTE and I having an example conversation and having the students try to figure out what is going on. As I said, I’m very much an assistant, while the JTE takes the lead in most classes. It’s partly because the teacher’s whom I’ve worked with have really good English and don’t need much help in that aspect, and also because they have their own ideas as to what the want to do in a lesson or how they wish to carry it out. Sometimes I’ll be asked for ideas on games and activities, but it’s not that hard nor does it take up that much time.

One reason why some other JETs are able to be the main teacher in the class is also because they work at only 1 school and more or less teach English to all levels. Except for the first 2 terms, I’ve been working in more than 1 school per term, and my senior high classes aren’t just the general English classes – I’m in writing classes, English communication classes and so on. So the focus of the classes is different and the Japanese teachers themselves only teach 1 particular class. In that sense, it’s impossible for me to be the main teacher even if I were at my senior high school full time.

My work then is pretty much a no-brainer; things are easy and not much input nor effort is required of me. Some other ALTs get satisfaction from chatting with their students and so on, but I don’t see my kids that often – my school is big compared to other schools, or I’m in that school only 1 day a week and have classes back to back, so no chance to hang around to chat. Even if I saw them more often, I think I’m not enough of a novelty to inspire students to come and talk to me – being city kids, they’ve pretty much had ALTs throughout much of their school life and are used to us. I don’t even think they’re that eager to talk in English to begin with – even the Brit whom they’re always excited to see (tall, male, white and so on) doesn’t get anyone wanting to talk to him.

Club activities after school are a personal no-no; it’s already such a chore to be sitting in school with nothing work-related to occupy my time that i’m quite eager to head out every day. So I’m definitely not one of those ‘super JETs’.

Hence, I can’t find any scope to develop professionally in my job, as my capabilities aren’t stretched because so little is required of me, and the challenge I face is mainly to try to keep myself entertained and engaged during and outside of class. I am quite underworked in terms of the number of classes I teach too, mainly because lots of classes that I have scheduled never happen because the teacher needs to focus on teaching the syllabus and cant always accommodate ALT presence in the classes. Other permanent classes sometimes also don’t occur for some reason or another – 2 of my classes (4 periods in total as there’re 2 batches of students per class) only occur about 14 times in 2 terms, which is something like every other week? And I’m not even the least worked ALT among us; some of the others at my school – I think it’s my school in particular that’s slack – have less classes than I do, and another JET I know of elsewhere has even less classes than anyone else. But I am, indeed, very free timetable-wise.

It is possible to derive job fulfilment through others, for example, to feel a sense of achievement when you see your students mature and grow and improve at English. Unfortunately, that avenue isn’t available to me either! As mentioned above, I either see them too infrequently that don’t even quite have the chance to have a good gauge of their English abilities, or that they don’t have English classes often enough and hence cant improve. As we all know, languages need to be constantly reinforced for absorption; one 50 minute oral communication class once a week would achieve little, much less at the (in)frequency mine have their lessons.

I don’t feel like there’s enough time dedicated to English here. I don’t teach at an English-intensive high school where the students ‘major’ in English and have loads of English classes everyday and are super motivated to learn English. In some of those schools, the students spend about 1 to 2 periods each morning having everyday conversations with their ALT, and naturally are more comfortable using English and actually build up the ability to communicate in English too – just compare that to what my students get!

It doesn’t help either that English language education at high school level in Japan isn’t great. There’s lots written about teaching English in Japan around on the web and elsewhere, and the main criticisms are the emphasis on rote learning and reading rather than writing and speaking, having teachers with poor English teach students English, a focus towards university entrance examinations rather than acquiring the actual skill to use the language and so on.

All those are true, but I feel that English at junior high school level is a lot more effective than English at senior high school level. At least at junior high school, there’re set textbooks teaching a set level of English for a specific purpose – and students that graduate from junior high school generally attain a certain level of basic English understanding.

I feel however that things go downhill from there. I haven’t been involved much in the general English classes, as those I teach are the elective, additional classes taken by the students who are supposed to have a greater focus on language than others who focus on art or design and so on (goodness knows that’s not quite true, but never mind). I have seen, though, the books that are used for general English class, and the difficulty of the English used in them is astounding. It’s at a level way higher than the students’ actual level, as the aim is to make them pass their university entrance examinations, which are at a very high level of English too. So understanding those texts is basically achieved through having the teacher translate everything for them, and they copying the English text and Japanese translation into their notebooks.

What really gets to me though, is that there isn’t really a proper syllabus or path progression laid out for senior high school English. Lessons aren’t designed such that they build upon and reinforce knowledge already gained, but instead there seems to either be a huge gap between senior and junior high, or that they simply continue learning the same things over and over again. For example, I’ve done classes on giving directions to students in all 3 grades of high school. So they’re not really learning anything new.

Although you might argue that since my 3rd year students don’t seem much better at giving directions than my first year students, then perhaps the class is worth doing again. But you see, that shouldn’t be the case! Topics and classes that have been covered before should NOT have to be covered again, as the students are meant to have already acquired the vocabulary and expressions relevant to that lesson. For some reason, however, quite a lot of them are never quite able to distinguish between the question words – how what why where when – or things like “how long does it take” and so on in conversation, and I attribute that to not having enough practice. It’s fine if you’re teaching more advanced expressions and vocab in classes on the same topic, but we’re always starting from scratch almost.

Moving back however to there not being a proper syllabus or path progression for senior high, is that teachers teaching the same general English lesson to students in the same year can have completely different lesson plans. Back in the beginning when I first arrived, I taught in general English classes with 2 different teachers to 2nd year students, and they did completely different things. One more or less had a proper plan whereas the other did not, and basically went from one week to the next trying to think of some not-very-meaningful/useful game or activity to occupy class time. And I have no idea why the difference exists, or why they didn’t just pool resources.

Japan’s school system is also interesting in that students don’t really have to put in much effort in their senior high school life so long as they do enough to graduate – which is very little – and pass their university entrance examinations. So moving from 2nd year to 3rd year saw a stark difference in my students. Their English teachers changed from a really good one whom they liked to others whom they didn’t like as much (and perhaps weren’t so effective), and while their interest waned their English level dropped, as there was a lot less reinforcement occurring in class. They also started paying more attention to passing their university exams, and since the actual classes they attend are essentially unnecessary for graduation and university, not long after the beginning of their 3rd year already saw them sitting listlessly in class, sleeping, chatting with their friends, reading manga, playing with their phones or listening to music. And such are Japanese schools that such behaviour is allowed and not sternly reprimanded – I’ve been told that one of the reasons is because senior high school isn’t compulsory, so students have the right to be in class regardless of what they do and you cant chase them out or send them for disciplining.

the long and short of it is that my students arent getting any better in their english either, which is frustrating. they make the same grammatical and spelling mistakes over and over again in their writing, miss their articles all the time and even in their final year of senior high might still fail to begin a sentence with a capital letter or capitalise the beginning of names and places. gargh. junior high textbooks teach students that it’s ok to begin a sentence with “because”, and teach them uniquely Japanese expressions, like “My friends are my treasures” and “I enjoy TV” without the verb attached. In a way, my english too has been dumbed down somewhat, and i use the word “enjoy” a lot more, mainly because all of us here as ALTs hear it being bandied about all the time.

so… this has become more of a rant than anything else, but the good news is that i’m done now, i think. hurray.

 

*: thanks very much for all the comments and encouragement! I really appreciate those comments; it makes me feel like there’s some worth in me having my blog. Haha.

home

these two days have been rough. i have so many things i want to whinge about that i dont know where to start, so let me just talk about this thing called "home”.

for some reason lots of people around me dislike japan a fair bit. i hear way too often that they’re so homesick, they miss this, they miss that, they dont like this about japan, why is japan like that, back home we.. etc etc etc. Home is spoken about fondly and favourably when compared to japan, and people talk about missing this or not liking a certain aspect of japan as if just because we’re all on the same programme living in the same city i would understand how they feel.

at dinner today, some were chatting about how it sometimes is necessary to go abroad before you realise how good home is. this statement makes absolute sense, until it’s narrowed down to my particular experience, where it then doesnt quite hold true.

it’s taken coming to japan before i realised what i’d miss out on if i moved back to singapore after JET.

for one, going back means definitely living with my parents, and living on my own is one of the most wonderful things about being here. i can do whatever i want, whenever i want, however i want, and no one is going to say a thing about it.

singapore is too hot, and the heat lasts forever. i’ve been criticised by friends for being “snobbish” and dissing our weather just cos i’ve been overseas, but seriously, having seasons in a country is amazing. i can get through the terrible osakan summer knowing that it’ll end in 3 months; the cold is tolerable cos i know that soon it’ll be spring, flowers will be in bloom and everything will be nice again. seasons bring with them a natural way to mark the passage of time, something which i never really managed to do in singapore, except by the year of school i was in, which doesnt apply anymore. and frankly, it’s winter here now and i think i’m liking it more than the heat of summer, cos i go out and the air is cool and crisp and fresh, and you kinda feel good in it. and in winter i have spring to look forward to; in summer, autumn. winter means you can have nabe (steamboat) to keep warm, and the sweet delicious crabs are in season. seasons mean that my year is varied and a little more exciting.

i have more mobility here too. i cycle so often, and it really gets me when it rains cos my poor skills means i have to leave my bike at home. i can get to places more easily and i dont have to walk, whereas i cant really do that in singapore cos there’re too many people and the pavements are a lot narrower too. the persistent heat also means that if i want to wear skirts which are cooler, i can’t cycle, and if i want to cycle, i cant stay as cool. why do i have to choose?

i dont think my eating habits have changed that much either, which i think is a big thing for quite a lot of them. i get green leafy vegetables here (although more expensive and of lesser variety), i get rice, i get almost everything i want – and whatever’s not available, like chilli, i dont consume all that much of either. also, i eat extremely well; food here is good, and i get some kind of service when i go to restaurants. alcohol is everywhere, which makes me happy, as i like being able to drink without having to pay through the nose for it the way i would in singapore.

of course, lots of things dont make sense about this country; i get frustrated too when i cant communicate and so on, but hey, a sales person in singapore didnt understand me either, just cos i was speaking in full sentences with proper grammar. the city is crowded, but orchard road on weekends is awful, and absolutely frightful when it’s a rainy sunday. plus, if i get sick of Osaka, 1 hour by train will bring me to a more suburban (or even semi-rural) part in some other prefecture which makes for a nice change, but getting to JB is quite a mission – tampines to lavender, then bus for 1 hour just to cross the causeway? and to pulau ubin, you need to get to changi village, then wait for the boat to fill up with enough passengers to depart? W.T.F.

when i went home in december, what occurred to me was that somehow along the way, i’d lost the sense of “this is home, truly, where i know i must be” thing that kit chan sings about. everything felt familiar and i slipped back into old routines and old habits built up over 23 years so, so easily, but that didnt mean that i FELT something for those habits.

definitely, being back among friends and family was great, and i loved it; being able to just chat about stuff – conversation flows so much easier, for sure – but apart from the people… i’m not sure. if “home” is associated with some form of nostalgia and deep emotional feeling, then i have to say that most unfortunately i have no idea where it is. i wouldnt go so far as to say that i like JAPAN more than singapore – japan’s a big place, and i wouldnt even like it this much if i were living somewhere else in osaka city – but i can definitely say that there are things out there that i want at this point in my life that singapore cannot offer me. things might change – like if i want to start a family, for example – but as of now.. nope.

which really sucks considering what i’ve learnt about working in the UK – near impossible, and that’s one thing i want to whinge about – as if i were forced to go back to singapore i would KNOW what i am missing out on. of course my search will not end with the UK, but the likelihood that i might have to go back has become EXTREMELY REAL. and it’s terrible considering going back might mean me losing out on more than just working overseas and stuff like seasons, and it’s awfully depressing.

so the question is, why not extend my JET contract for another year?

simply because despite all appearances, my job is pretty crap. and given that there are few JETs who would (could?) actually say that, and given that a fair number of aspiring JETs come across my blog, i have to say again that i dont really like my job all that much at all. i’ve never mentioned this before, but i think i should because my experience is a JET experience even if it isnt the JET experience, and if you’re unlucky this might well be your experience, so forewarned is forearmed.

but that’s for another day in another post.

CIR positions for Singaporeans

i just heard yesterday that CIR positions for singaporeans are available only if a current singaporean CIR is leaving the programme -  apparently there’s a tendency to hire the people from the same country for the exact same position?

i have no idea, though that would explain why some years there are openings for CIR positions, whereas in other years – like mine – there arent.

if anyone knows anything about this, please let me know!

 

meanwhile i think the deadline for this year’s JET application is approaching – if anyone out here has any questions, i’m at your service :)

good luck!

a week in the life of an ALT

i think i’ve broken my personal record this week by having only just ONE day of school.

to be fair, i work at the BOE every monday and tomorrow is our mid-year seminar, but still. my teacher for today’s school informed me late last night that classes have been cancelled because of swine flu*. friday is sports day for the senior high kids and excursion to nara for the junior high students, so it’s back at the BOE again.

i was checking through the journal forms of the other ALTs today, where we note down the classes we teach and other things we do for the school, like english club, lesson preparation, marking, etc. not surprisingly, the 4 of us at my main school are the least worked ALTs of all.

 

*: swine flu, by the way, is spreading again due to the colder weather. just last week the 2nd year junior high students had their classes cancelled because of it, and so many kids are wearing masks.

living costs in osaka

i just realised that i’ve always intended to blog about this, but never got down to doing it.

i remember worrying before i came over, whether my pay would be enough to cover living costs and so on, and looking back now, it seems so ridiculous because the pay that JETs receive is incredible.

i get about 285,000yen a month after taxes and so on are deducted. a quarter of that goes to rent, at a bit more than 61,000yen. i think this is the most that any JET would ever pay, unless you’re living in the city in an apartment that’s larger than 6 tatami mats with a kitchen and bathroom (the other osaka JETs in the bigger 2-bedroom apartment pay around 80,000yen).

utilities – gas, water and electricity – average to less than 6000yen a month. it increases a bit in winter when i turn on the electric heater and in summer when the aircon is on, but i think my expenditure is fairly low because i dont leave my heating or aircon on the entire night, whereas i know many people who do.

food-wise, it depends entirely how much i go out that month. a dinner out will often be around 2000yen, lunches 1000yen. drinks are in general about 500yen or 700yen, depending on where you go. i definitely dont scrimp on eating out or grocery shopping, and i’ve spent between 31,000yen and 50,000yen a month. i bring bento to school most times though, so i eat lunch out only about once on weekdays. dinner on weekdays would perhaps be once to a max of 3 times – it’s usually once – and on weekends, anything goes. i think i go out a lot, but that’s the price of having company and socialisation. no choice.

internet – i share that, but it’s 4000yen for KDDI’s wonderful fibre-optic service. not all apartment buildings have fibre-optic, installed, but broadband should be around that price, unless you get a package deal. usually when you first sign up they’ll give you a really good discount – for us it was 2000yen for the first 6 months, but JETs who came this year got a far better deal.

mobile phone – all depends on how much internet you use on your phone. in japan, you can only send SMS to people who subscribe to the same company. to contact people with another phone company, you have to use email or call. calling is really expensive though, but the internet is very useful. i use it to check train times all the time, and sometimes the weather. but my bills are on average about 2600yen i think.

transport – is expensive! i already cycle to school most days of the week, but i think i easily spend almost 10,000yen a month. if i didnt cycle to school, i think i’d be spending maybe at least 15,000yen?

apart from those, there’s also expenditures on things like household items ( e.g. toilet paper), toiletries, clothes and shopping, etc. those all vary, and it’s difficult to give an estimate for stuff like holidays too. but i think it’s reasonable to say that a 7 day trip somewhere in japan would cost around 100,000yen, how much more or less would depend on how watchful you are of your wallet. i think that estimate is for a comfortable holiday, where you dont splurge but do spend some on enjoying yourself.

summer camp 2009

so most of the last 2 weeks were spent at english summer camps for the english-intensive high schools, and im kinda glad they’re over!

the thing about camps – or perhaps just the ones that i was at – are that they just go on forever. imagine your day starting at 7.30 in the morning and ending at 9.30pm, with the student’s hour-long bath time around 5pm as your only proper break throughout the day. it doesnt really matter that the things you do arent actually that taxing – in fact, it’s precisely because it’s so untaxing and mind-numbing that it’s difficult to get through it – it’s just that the day drags on!

the first camp i had was in nara, and the students had to interview me and make a poster on me. they are excellent artists, and of course what’s written down there has to be taken with a pinch (or two, or several) of salt:

this is a really good likeness, isnt it?:

on the last day, the students had some time in nara, where they were meant to act as tour guides. but in this case, they didnt, and were more focused on enjoying themselves. in fact, i’ve been to nara more times than any of my students – only 1 out of 10 of them had ever been to nara!

i like the deer in nara

the deer eat paper – pamphlets, magazines, etc – too, so watch out!:

and once they latch on, they dont let go.

we found this one in a ditch beside the main road:

and another that has a very weird left antler which curves forwards and out, rather than straight up – just compare the right and left ones!

the second camp was in kyoto, and we stayed at the Honnoji Kaikan opposite the Kyoto City Hall (or was it the prefectural hall?). In any case, the hotel had amazing food and service! they gave us a kyoto sweet for every night that we stayed over, with a hot water flask and packets of sencha and houjicha. the futons were laid out for us at night too, and the rooms are spacious. and futons comfortable! i think they paid 8000yen for 1 night and 2 meals, which is very reasonable.

especially when your dinners look like that:

how sumptuous! sashimi, tofu, fish, tempura, some seaweed thing, chawamushi, soup and some yam thingy that was exquisitely prepared. this is the tempura – its batter was amazing:

breakfasts were simpler, but still appeared in that form. they always came with some form of egg (omelette or onsen tamago, which is delicious japanese-style soft boiled egg), fish, tofu – that will be heated in its pot using a solid fuel tablet, seaweed, soup, rice, pickles. yum yum.

dinner on the second day was sukiyaki, which was amazing:

the picture is blur cos of the steam, but man it was sooooo good. i love sukiyaki because the broth is tasty, and the egg that you dip the meat and vegetables in enhances the flavour. we had extra stuff to cook too, so i ate way too much. in fact, i ate too much throughout that camp!:

those were huge plates of stuff – to be shared between 4 pple, but in my case, it was shared between 3. and there was also some katsuo salad, with 5 pieces of katsuo. so yummy – that stuif wasnt cheap either!

at least the food at that camp was really good, because that, and hanging out with the guys chatting in their room over drinky drinks (ie alcohol) at night were the two things that made it endurable.

oh, and on the last day, the school hired other private ALTs so that the students could break into even smaller groups to act as tour guides of kyoto, and oh my. those private ALTs reminded me of how i was last year, and made me realise how jaded i’ve been!

last year, i was really excited, extremely happy-sounding, and really made the effort to appear energetic, positive and interested. i tried so hard to engage the students in conversation and was really into learning about the job and all that, whereas this year i was happy to sit and eat my food without talking too much to anyone while listening in on the student’s (japanese) conversation.

it’s interesting too, that few of the other JETs in the city find what we do unchallenging. im not sure if i’ve ever mentioned this here before, but to put things very simply, life as an ALT is, in my opinion, very unchallenging. i have very little actual hours of work, and basically my job is to do as i’m told by the JTE. of course there’s room for input and suggestions, but that doesnt take too much either.

in essence, it’s very easy work and doesnt require much of you. some of the rest find communication difficult as their JTEs do not have that good a command of english and they cant always communicate with the students, but i dont really have that problem. but even then, the fact that we all that sheer amount of free time at work is what really gets to me and is difficult to deal with. i suppose it doesnt help that i feel underutilised, and that im not really developing in any way professionally, nor is my potential being stretched at all..

oh well. ganbarimasu this next year, and in the mean time i’ll develop myself in other ways!

being an alternate on JET

i once blogged somewhere here that 2 of my friends here were alternates, and that they said they replaced someone from their consulate/embassy who was supposed to be coming to Osaka City.

turns out that they were wrong! one of the people they replaced is a south african; this time around, we lost someone, and the replacement isnt from the same country either.

so i suppose the more singaporeans they choose as alternates, the better we performed in the interviews??

JET related news

OMFG

there's now a CIR position for Singaporeans!!! see here.

i've also recently learnt that someone from the Board of Education will be making a formal announcement regarding the number of JETs the city will be receiving in 2009 during the principal's meeting that we have on the 6th of April. i guess this means that the confirmed postings will be out pretty soon, so keep a look out people!

:)

The JET Interview - What I Went Through

Considering it’s already mid-january, I probably should note down some of my thoughts on the JET interview which should be coming up in about a month’s time.. but before that, congrats to all the 2009 shortlisted applicants! :) you guys are one step closer to the JET programme and japan! I’m glad to be hearing from some of you on the tagboard.. hope this site has been useful, or at least interesting to you :) wonder how many people made the shortlist this year, but if it’s anything like last year, they’ll probably filter about half of the interviewees for the final selection (approval by tokyo)..

anyhow, the best resource for preparing for the interview is definitely the internet. Last year, I surfed around and found a lot of sites that listed topics and questions to think about. Those are always helpful, as the more you ponder and reflect on what you want to achieve while on JET, what you can bring to the programme with regard to teaching and cultural exchange, as well as how you are going to overcome the various problems that you might face while working and living in Japan, the better shaped your responses will be during the interview.

Think over and consider these questions carefully, and mentally write a paragraph or main points in your head the way you might express them naturally in an interview. i actually wrote down my responses on a piece of paper so that I could rephrase and refine my answers, which might seem a bit too much to some, but I think it helped me think through and present myself more clearly during the interview. That was the interview that I prepared the hardest for in my entire life by the way.. perhaps if I’d put in as much effort into my scholarship interviews back then post-A levels my life might have turned out rather different! Haha.

Anyhow, quite a few sites warn interviewees to expect to be grilled and be given a hard time by the interviewers, which made me slightly worried about what it was going to be like. I suppose expecting the worse would make things a breeze when you meet really nice interviewers, which is what happened to me. The panel was an all male one - a former JET (a Caucasian who currently works for the embassy), an embassy representative (Singaporean) and a representative from what I think could be CLAIR (Japanese).

the embassy representative asked the most questions. he focused on my personal experiences, while the caucasian focused on teaching and the japanese asked me things regarding being a cultural ambassador and japan. they started off by asking me to give a brief self introduction.. then they asked things like:

• why did you choose to study geography?
• you didnt take 3rd language in secondary school. did you have no interest then?
• you have some teaching experience, what was it like?
• how different was it between teaching sec 1s and sec4s?
• was it intimidating teaching sec4s, since they were the first batch you taught?
• what do you think is the job of an ALT?
• as a chinese singaporean, do you think you have enough knowledge about malay and indian culture to tell others about it?

next, they asked me to outline the overseas experiences that i have. about how i think i will be able to survive an extended stay of at least a year on the JET programme if i get selected, what would i share with the japanese people and students about singapore or what i would want to tell them about singapore, if i have a good grasp of grammatical technicalities or be able to explain grammar etc.

the questions that they asked were rather different from the ones that i had prepared based on what i'd read online.. those posed to me are really specific to my personal experience while those that have been provided by pple online are more general and sort of situation based. for example, as compared to "There's a student misbehaving in class. what would u do?" type of questions, i was asked: "because you will be teaching english in japan where the students are not native english speakers, how would you alter or not alter the way you manage the class?"

i think the last question they posed was the most nerve wrecking one of all, as they requested that i explain how the JET programme fits into my future career aspirations in japanese. it's essentially the same thing as what i'd written in my application form, but because i wrote - and the question was posed - in japanese, it required a lot of translation on my part, which wasnt easy at all especially under interview conditions!

but all in all, i think that apart from preparing sufficiently well for the interview - which includes being extremely familiar with what you wrote in your statement of purpose and application form - it's important to appear confident, mature, culturally sensitive and open to learning and experiencing new things in japan. one of my JET friends here told me about this guy she knew back home who was had really good japanese and knew so much about japan and had visited japan quite a number of times who didnt make it through the interview, and the few of us present concluded that the interviewers are probably looking for applicants who will be able to grow and develop while on JET. so it might be useful to play down your knowledge about japan if you're extremely familiar with the country, or at least appear very open to discovering new things about japan!

i hope this has been useful; all the best and good luck! :)

drawing the fine line between how much is too much Japanese..

considering that i've been hired under the JET programme to provide japanese students the opportunity to hear native english being spoken as well as to give them someone to communicate with in english, i've definitely been trying as far as possible to use as little japanese as i can. The Brit at school festival commented that it's interesting how while he always tries to speak to students in japanese (to practise his japanese), i speak english to them as far as i can. he says that he doesnt see the need to speak to them in english outside of the classroom - and he didnt know that all japanese students learn english in school - and so communicates in japanese on other occasions.

however, i feel that firstly english should defnitely NOT be confined to being a classroom subject, and that by speaking to them in english outside the classroom, it demonstrates that english is a living language that can be used on any occasion. moreover, i can practise my japanese with other people on other occasions, whereas the students wouldnt have much opportunity at all to use english or even hear english unless i speak and try to make them respond in english. added to the fact that i've been hired to speak english, english should definitely be what i speak to the students. in addition, that japanese ability isnt a requirement to work as an ALT further reinforces the idea, in my opinion, that english should be used and not japanese.

of course, that i'm writing the above at all means that i'm really having second thoughts about that (i'm not using 'beginning to have' because it's been there for sometime). already, i feel that sometimes i use too much japanese, because i have a choice whether to use japanese or not, which is more than what those ALTs who know no or less japanese than i do have.

however, i'm actually wondering whether i should even be increasing the amount of japanese i use, believe it or not.

at the orientation, some ALTs who were giving speeches said that they sort of try to hide their japanese ability from the students in a bid to make the kids use more english, but right from the second week i did away with that resolution because it's quite impossible to do so with the level of english among my kids. and i do feel that a moderate amount of japanese used does help because the students can communicate with me, even if it means me saying something in english, repeating it very slowly and translating it into japanese if necessary (as it is most of the time). moreover, it's very frustrating for them - and you can see it - when they want to say or ask something but cant express themselves in english. they end up giving up altogether because communicating just requires too much effort, and i think that them NOT using english to clarify something is better than them not asking at all.

but i wonder if i should be using more japanese, mainly because there's the possibility that speaking more japanese will lead to the students being more willing to talk to me and becoming more familiar with me, and when that familiarity and willingness to chat with me in general has been established, i could then perhaps try to make them use more english. the reason being that yesterday, i ended up talking to a class entirely in japanese - i dont know how it came to that, but it happened nonetheless - while the main teacher went to zap some notes for them, and wow the class was so hyper and lively when that happened, and i think the atmosphere in the classroom improved a fair bit after that brief episode!

and today, one of the teachers actually said that she hopes i can use as much japanese as possible for the writing class that we take together. i guess the rationale is that they're to be trained in writing (rather than listening or conversation), so japanese can be used to explain grammar and the usage of words, etc. i dont really know how that works, but she said that she was really happy to discover that my japanese is rather good (which it isnt, but well if she says so.... heh).

and this all makes me confused! i think there's a fine line between using enough japanese and using too much, yet i have no idea where that line is. i dont want to fall into the same trap that some Japanese teachers of english make by using too much japanese in class, yet i dont want to discourage the students from making full use of my presence here as a foreigner ALT in japan. i think it definitely helped somewhat, when i explained to yesterday's class  - in japanese - in response to their comment that my japanese is very good so why do i keep speaking to them in english that the reason why i'm here is because they dont have much chance to speak or hear english, hence i try to use as much english as possible. i think they sort of get the idea now, i hope. but whatever it is, english has to be the medium of teaching in english class, as that's how kids learn! so i dont know.

i'm really wondering about this, because i dont know how the rest who dont speak japanese get on in their classes. if it's just me who's having these dilemmas, something must be wrong perhaps? the rest of them get along with their students fine without using japanese i think. then again, it could just be the students in this school, because i dont see The Brit - and he's a white male, see here for the significance of that - having students clamouring to talk to him either.

わからへん！！

summer camp madness 1

well. i suppose i exaggerate when i say that it's been crazy, but it certainly has been tiring going for 2 camps almost back to back.

there're schools called intensive-english high schools in osaka city (and elsewhere in japan i'm sure), where the kids have more english classes than others, and these students are generally more motivated to learn english than their peers. all the ALTs have been assigned to either 1 of 2 schools' summer camps (most of us got 2), and mine were 3 days and 4 days each.

both camps were rather fun, though the standard of english and the attitudes of the students differed quite a bit. the programmes were roughly the same for both camps in that both comprised a short skit and a show and tell segment, while the 2nd camp included lessons as well. i certainly enjoyed the 2nd camp more as the students were more interested in learning, and they were really energetic and eager to talk to you. which is a great thing, because i didnt really feel like the students were interested in me in the first camp.

i'm sure it's partly due to my personality, that i'm not as much of a people person as some of the other ALTs, thus when i put in energy to be approachable and interesting and so on - all the stuff to make kids like you and be interested in you, which appears to be a very big thing when you're an in ALT, as the more interested they are in you, the more they'll be willing to talk to you and learn from you - i still fare less well than the others who're naturally more interesting people.

and i think where you come from definitely makes a difference. the most popular are the male caucasians, as so long as you're male and white, all the kids will love you, especially in english-intensive schools where they're just so many girls. there're quite a few girls around who want to many foreigners - by that they mean white men - which makes being white and male result in instant celebrity status.

then, looking different it helps too, so if you're black or a white female, the kids will be interested in you too. and i think the fact that i'm asian - and look just like the kids - plus not half as interesting as the rest just completely works against me in a camp setting where being interesting and so totally GENKI are very important aspects. i'm hoping that things will improve when i'm in my school where i can actually teach - hopefully - and try to make a difference somehow. the brit guy who's in the same school as i am was really popular at his camp too, apparently, but there're only 2 of us so hopefully i'll feel some love. haha.

my first camp was at this place called katano green village to the east of osaka city. the surroundings were nice and kinda rustic, and were really enjoyable when the weather got cooler at night:

view from the small porch outside my room

the steps up to my room. it's all the way up!

the river that we were next to

no cars on the road!

i love this view of the building:

one of the 2 main buildings we were in. the entire place is kinda like a camping area cum conference centre. there were quite a few families camping there when we were using the place too.

check out the huge gourd

lovely sunflower!

i'm apparently not meant to post pictures of students online due to privacy issues, so i'm afraid u all wont be able to see any... and regarding photos of food... i dont have that many to be honest.. when food comes i just eat! gomenasai..

thankful

the singaporean JETs have been keeping in touch with each other via mass emails - i love them and really makes me feel closer to home somewhat - and i'm feeling rather blessed at the moment to have been placed in a city proper and to be a city JET to boot.

lots of them have been experiencing things like loneliness and many inconveniences, and i feel so thankful that i have 6 other people in my apartment and about 14 others just a phone call away, and even though there are cultural gaps between the angmohs and i*. it's just great that there are people i know close by (the nearest is living right in the room directly above mine!). **

i guess being a city JET in osaka means that i will never have the chance to experience the type of 'community living' that one in a more suburban or rural area would, i'm really loving the convenience that i have here - i've been to nara, kyoto and kobe, all in the span of.. 5 days? and kobe's sannomiya station is just 290yen away. super damn cheap!

i love the fact that there's a convenience store just 5min down the road, and that i have 3 supermarkets of varying sizes within a 7min cycling distance. and that i can shop for clothes in jusco. and that the bus stop is just opposite the road outside my apartment complex. and that i have a 100yen store and the post office nearby too. and that there's no lack for things to do and places to see in osaka, and that if i want to experience some place quieter, i'm in a pretty nice and quiet residential area with some small parks that are rather quiet in the day.

i dont think i've complained about osaka yet, but i'll remind myself that i have so many reasons not to if and when i feel the need to complain!

 

*: for example, a bunch of them are out checking out pubs in our area and having drinks for the 3rd time in 6 days. we had a major party on friday, and today is monday, and alcohol figures in the picture again. i know that consuming alcohol is part and parcel of angmoh (and japanese and korean and actually even chinese culture but NOT singaporean and i think that's what maters) culture and that they dont view drinking the same way as most singaporeans/i do, i frankly find this rather excessive! i might have gone out with them if i were free this evening, but i'm relieved in a way that i was out with some friends - those whom i met on the hyogo ship programme - today and couldnt make it. i dont really want to do too much damage to my liver, and i'm really not that much into the whole drinking thing even though i do like my occasional - read, occasional - drink like my umeshu and cocktails. and this may be blasphemous to some, but i'm NOT a fan of live music. i like to protect my hearing and would greatly prefer to be able to talk to people without having to shout, thank you very much. i'm really sorry if i sound bitchy here, but urgh! this has to be voiced out somewhere. sorry!

**: i realise that i've yet to say anything about my fellow JETs! despite that little rant above, i think they're on the whole a great bunch of people. everyone has been really helpful and rather friendly (i say rather, cos you can already see who gets along better with who, but really they're all nice), and i think this little bit doesnt do justice to the whole bunch of us. i will talk more about the other JETs, but i dont think i'll do that till i actually know them all a bit better :)

can't drive = non-rural area?

it occurred to me the other day that there's a possibility this correlation may actually be rather strong..

i can't drive, and i'm in one of the least rural areas you can possibly be. another girl who's in the rural part of akita prefecture (which is a fairly rural prefecture itself) lives about a 45min drive away from one of her schools, if i remember correctly. wendy, one of the ex-JETs, said that you can't not drive in the rural area in winter, due to the heavy snow fall in most parts. besides, it's far more convenient to have a car if you're in a rural area where bus services are fairly infrequent.

it would be interesting to try to find out if all the people who have been posted to rural areas hold a driver's license...

JET Programme Singapore Souvenirs

this title should be the puzzle for "Before and After" on Wheel of Fortune! (and i bet no one got what i mean..)

anyway, i attended the JET farewell reception on thursday, and it was really nice to get to know some of the other singaporean JETs better before we leave, and just as nice to have had the chance to meet some JET alumni and learn more about what's in store for us :)

but perhaps the most interesting piece of information was regarding the JET applicants for 2008. contrary to rumours that there were more than a thousand applicants, the actual number was far far less - about 168 applicants in all. from these 168 applicants, about 40 were shortlisted for the interview, which means that how you appear on paper is extremely important. all the more reason to put in more effort for the statement of purpose and application form!

i also discovered that i'm the 2nd singaporean to be posted to osaka! whee! feel quite privileged :) the first one was also the very first singaporean on JET, and went as a CIR. there arent any CIRS this year, although we're the biggest batch so far. i think the previous 2 batches numbered 18 people, and the good news is that the number of singaporeans going on JET has been increasing steadily.

meanwhile, the bunch of us have been sharing what we're bringing over as omiyage too, and i just feel that i ought to make a public service announcement here regarding buying souvenirs of singapore. do be careful when buying souvenirs from lucky plaza! i'd say that apart from those stuff that are going for 2 for $10 - most of these are being sold at roughly the same price elsewhere, like in chinatown - some of the others are priced really high! for example, this rather beautiful mug featuring scenes of Singaporean culture that i bought at chinatown for $9.90 was going for $12.90 at one shop in lucky plaza, and at $18.90 (!!) at another shop in the same place! this is so clearly a ripoff, and i'd advise all to exercise caution when buying things from there.

better still, just dont buy from lucky plaza unless you've shopped around at other places or if you dont want to inconvenience yourself by travelling elsewhere. i'd say that chinatown is one of the best place to buy souvenirs due to the sheer number of stalls - even then, do check out the stalls nearest to the road along which sri mariamman temple is located before buying anything as they're generally the cheapest - although i heard that arab street and mustafa are great places as well. i dont go to the other 2 that often because they're a little out of the way for me, but i agree that the shops in arab street do sell some pretty nice things that can't be found elsewhere.

oh. and the ultimate ripoff? the souvenir shop at merlion park. buy from lucky plaza if you want, but DO NOT, i repeat, DO NOT EVER buy from the shop at merlion park. and please announce this to every other person who visiting singapore too. if some things in lucky plaza can be a ripoff, just about everything in that shop is CUT-THROAT. check out that place for yourself and you'll realise that i'm not exaggerating at all!

Applying to JET - tips and suggestions

Applications for Singapore typically open in late September, with the deadline usually 2 months later in end November. Application for the 2008 programme began and ended on 25th Sept and 30th Nov respectively, so it'll be a good idea to check the Embassy of Japan's website regularly from 20th September to obtain the application form.

Filling in the form is easy enough once you figure out how to type in your information. It's quite impossible to enter anything until you highlight the entire Word document, select the table settings to show all the borders and lines and merge those within which you want to type something. Maybe it's just that I'm stupid, but it really frustrated me till i figured that out :P if there're any sections for which you need more space and more lines, feel free to attach appendices to your application :)

2 of the most important components of the JET application are the statement of purpose and section 29 (in last year's application form) of the form. I'm not sure if the theme of the latter changes from year to year, but last year's application form requested applicants to state the "proposed direction of their current or future profession and its relationship to the JET Programme".

I heard that there were about 1000* applicants for JET last year! While I cant vouch for the reliability of that information, there are certainly many many applicants yearly, hence making yourself stand out is very important. Here are some suggestions and tips for applying for JET which I hope will be helpful :)

 

First and foremost, JET is a job. It's the first thing that my lecturer said to me when I asked her for a referral letter, and i think it's especially relevant to applicants applying to go on the programme fresh out of university. Many apparently treat the programme as an opportunity for them to travel and have fun, which shows in their application form, and my lecturer informed me that it's usually not as easy for fresh grads to be selected as compared to those with some working experience. I think no more than a quarter of us among the 25 Singaporeans on JET this year are fresh grads, which perhaps may be a reflection of my teacher's advice. So, sound professional and give serious consideration as to what you want out of being an ALT on JET as a career choice!

 

Section 29 of the form is fairly focused, and mine comprised 2 paragraphs and 228 words. I think this section was designed to filter the serious job applicants from those who treat the programme as a travel ticket to Japan, and require applicants to really consider how applying for JET would fit into their long term career plans. It basically wanted the applicant to state:

• why work overseas? --> overseas experience, exposure to different cultures?
• why work in Japan? --> interest in Japan, want to improve command of the language, want to use Japanese in future careers?
• why choose to be a teacher? --> enjoy working with children, want to enter the education sector?

Of course, these can (and should?) link up to personal aims and aspirations too, which are part and parcel of one's career choices anyway!

 

The Statement of Purpose is a bit trickier, as it should cover a broader range of topics. the JET Programme is as much about being an assistant language teacher of English as it is about cultural exchange and sharing. From these arise three very important questions:

1. what skills and strengths do I have to be a good English teacher?
2. how great is my wealth of knowledge regarding my home country and culture (or a variety of countries and cultures) that makes me a worthy applicant?
3. why do I want to apply to teach in Japan and not any other country?

 

What skills and strengths do I have to be a good English teacher -- Perhaps you've done relief teaching and enjoyed it a lot. Maybe you have lots of passion for teaching and conduct lively and interesting lessons. Do you have certain character traits which make you suitable as a teacher? How confident are you regarding your English ability? Why do you think it's important to help to develop the English language skills of (Japanese) children? Has your interest in teaching been inspired by other events or people?

How great is my wealth of knowledge regarding my home country and culture -- I sort of pulled out all the stops when I was addressing this aspect in my essay. haha. I mentioned having been on the Hyogo Ship Programme and sharing information and knowledge with Japanese peers. I talked about how my student exchange to London has impacted me, not just culturally but also in giving me the confidence and the knowledge that i can live overseas - something which i'll be doing when on JET. I highlighted how being Singaporean makes me unique and different from applicants from other countries. Just make a list of everything you can think of, and find a way to link them all together and sell yourself!

Why do I want to apply to teach in Japan and not any other country -- I didn't talk much about this, as most of it was already covered in what I had written in Section 29. But it should state clearly why you're interested in Japan when there're many other countries in which you can work as an ALT too. The culture, the food, the language, the society? Perhaps it's because you've studied these in school but want to experience Japan first hand. Maybe you've been to other countries and want to experience Japan. Whatever it is, just remember that there's far more to Japan than anime, manga, computer games and gadgets!

Besides these, I think it's really important to read, and re-read, and re-re-read the statement of purpose. I refined mine over and over again till I was satisfied with the final product and couldnt make it any better - not that it's perfect, but that it's really the best I can do. I tightened sentences, checked my grammar and punctuation - which MUST be flawless considering you're applying to teach english! - and rephrased paragraphs to squeeze in as much about myself as i could. i added a conclusion, as i felt that it was a good way to end the essay and summarise everything that i'd written.

All in all, I think completing the various components of the JET Programme application form requires spending time and effort. Dont short-change yourself by doing a sloppy job of your statement of purpose thinking that you can always apply again next year if you dont succeed. Ask yourself why you want to go on the JET Programme so much. Readers of your statement of purpose should be able to gain a sense of who you are - as an individual, not just any other person with good qualifications and skills plus a yen for japan - hence it should convey your passions and interest in going on JET. Search your feelings, dreams, hopes and aspirations, write them down, and do your best to convey them in the essay so that whoever reads it will sense your strong desire and be convinced of your motivations.

All the best, and good luck!

 

* Correction - there were about 168 applicants. See here.

osaka prefecture #1 in sexual assults!

oh man check out the full article here.

i guess when i'm there i should check to see if there're pple hiding around corners and be sure to close my door quickly!!

aidan says that he'll give me his small bottle of pepper spray. must remember to get it from him.

i was reading this article on harvesting garlic, and was reminded of the conversation some of us newly minted JETs had today over lunch. although my position as a super urban JET draws some envy, i kinda envy some of the others too! there are JETs who pay only slightly more than 7000yen in rent - i pay 49,000 after the housing allowance! and some dont even pay a single cent at all. mine is 1DK, while of course there are others with 2DK apartments. there's one who has been posted to Shimane prefecture, and apparently her predecessor has a garden with stuff like brinjal, onions and so on.

how cool is that?! i would like to grow some stuff too, and will try to do something about keeping potted plants.

pre-departure orientation

was held today at the Japan Embassy, and i got the chance to meet all the other singaporeans who are going (minus 1 or 2 who werent able to make it)!

there're 25 of us this year, and it's apparently the largest group to be sent on JET. to think that the first SOLO singaporean went on JET as recently as 9 years ago in 1999! and you know, everyone looks so young! most of them arent fresh grads, and many of them are (were?) teachers. the thing is, quite a few have been working for several years now, but you wouldnt be able to tell at all! they can pass off as fresh grads, and i didnt think for a moment that they're any older than i am. wonder how they have managed to keep their youth!

no one has been posted to osaka with me, although 3 are in Akita and 3 in Gifu as well. not sure why there're 3 of them in those prefectures, as i think they've generally been splitting up the Singaporeans so far (see here for detailed statistics of where the singaporeans have been posted). i'll be the only JET in Osaka prefecture and city!

i also discovered that we'll be checked into the Keio Plaza Hotel. It's very near Shinjuku station, and is listed in Lonely Planet as "high end", though the website states that it has won awards for being the most value-for-money hotel. no matter what, check out their deluxe and superior rooms - they look so beautiful! and woohoo - they apparently have FREE 24hr internet service!! as if i needed any more things to look forward to!